It is with great sadness that I have to inform members that our friend, and colleague, Malcolm Hay has passed away.

Malcolm was born in 1937 in Colchester and died in Salisbury Hospital on 1st March 2016 aged 78. He joined the army as a boy soldier at the age of 15 in 1952 and completed a total of 40 years active service with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) retiring as a Major. He then completed a further 10 years as a retired officer actively involved in a number of roles.

Malcolm’s extensive Dinky Toys collection was concentrated around the military range of vehicles. He bought his first items in a second hand shop in Liverpool and immediately repainted them. He did not realise this would affect their value and he owned them right up to his death. His main collection is the classic military vehicles produced from the 1950s to the 1960s by both the English and French factories. He only collected pristine examples and displayed them whenever he could.

As can be seen from the attached photograph his display was superb, it incorporated some of the exhibition boards used in the 75th anniversary of Dinky Toys in Derby and he always actively promoted the benefits of joining the DTCA.

His other collection was over 100 German beer glasses which were amassed during his tours to the British Army of the Rhine [BAOR], he was proud that he never paid for one and never stole one, at the end of the night he would ask if he could have a glass and was never refused.

Due to our common background of REME and Dinky Toys Malcolm and I became good friends over the last few years, he was knowledgeable, courteous, friendly and just someone who was nice to be with, he will be very sorely missed, both as a colleague and as an ambassador for the DTCA.